Department of Physiology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic.
Dev Growth Differ. 2013 Jun;55(5):615-21. doi: 10.1111/dgd.12066. Epub 2013 May 29.
Apoptosis during tooth development appears dependent on the apoptotic executioner caspase-3, but not caspase-7. Instead, activated caspase-7 has been found in differentiated odontoblasts and ameloblasts, where it does not correlate with apoptosis. To further investigate these findings, the mouse incisor was used as a model. Analysis of caspase-7-deficient mice revealed a significant thinner layer of hard tissue in the adult incisor. Micro computed tomography scan confirmed this decrease in mineralized tissues. These data strongly suggest that caspase-7 might be directly involved in functional cell differentiation and regulation of the mineralization of dental matrices.
牙发育过程中的细胞凋亡似乎依赖于凋亡执行器 caspase-3，而不是 caspase-7。相反，活化的 caspase-7 已在分化的成牙本质细胞和成釉细胞中被发现，且与细胞凋亡无关。为了进一步研究这些发现，利用小鼠切牙作为模型。对 caspase-7 缺陷型小鼠的分析显示，成年切牙的硬组织层明显变薄。微计算机断层扫描证实了矿化组织的减少。这些数据强烈表明 caspase-7 可能直接参与功能性细胞分化和牙基质矿化的调节。
